Innocent Until Proven Guilty
by hotchgirl18
Summary: The teams brings in a suspect concerning child abductions. Is she innocent or guilty? Meanwhile, Hotch discovers there's more to her than meets the eye and a game of cat and mouse ensues.


The team was working a series of child abductions—and it was confusing. All they knew was the unsub was a woman, probbably trying to fufill the loss of her own child. With that in mind, the BAU brought a suspect in for questioning, Chloe Matthews. Now, Chloe was young, in her mid-thirties and fit the profile, well sort of. She lost her husband two years ago due to a brain tumor.

"She doesn't have children of her own," JJ pointed out.

"No, but she could've been planning to start one with her husband," Hotch said, "and my guess is the cancer destroyed that from happening. Regardless, three children are missing." He stormed out of the room.

"Aaron, what are you doing?" Rossi asked.

"I'm going to talk to her."

"You sure that's a good idea?"

Without saying a word to Rossi, Hotch slammed the door.

"I'm Agent Hotchner," Hotch said in a voice that left no room for argument, "three children are missing so, I'm going to give you _one_ chance to answer my questions."

He got in the girl's face.

"Where are they?" he growled.

"I don't know," she answered evenly.

He laid the crime scene pictures out for her to see.

"These children all went missing from school. Now, my team hasn't found any bodies, so they're alive. Did you take them somewhere, Chloe? Yes or no?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Chloe said, "I don't know!"

"Or, you know exactly what I'm talking about." He slammed his fist down on the desk and fiercly grabbed her arms.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!" he yelled.

Chloe didn't answer. Instead, she thought _This man is hot when he's angry. I don't know why I'm here but...wow._ She really didn't want Agent Hotchner to let her go.

"You better pray we find them alive," Hotch growled. Even the team was taken aback.

"You better pray they're alive or I'll be your worst nightmare," the Unit Chief threatned.

 _Or my best daydream_ Chloe thought as Hotch slammed the door. She couldn't get his voice out of her head—and she would have a hard time trying to.

"Hotch..." Rossi started.

"I know. I know. I lost control with her I just-"

"Just what?" Prentiss asked.

"Something's off with her."

"I'll say," Rossi quipped, "she didn't even flinch."

"The unsub would break down," Hotch mused, "she should be singing like a bird. But she didn't."

"Because she has something to hide," Blake said.

"That much is true," Hotch agreed, "but she didn't even _blink_ when I slammed the door."

Without thinking, Reid said, "Most unsubs are afraid of you." Then, he clamped his hand over his mouth.

"No, Reid. That's it!" Hotch exclaimed, "Chloe wasn't. So, she's not the unsub."

"Allright, then who is?"

The team sighed.

"Okay. Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna look at our profile again and see what we missed. In the meantime, we're each gonna take turns on Chloe. If she's not the unsub, maybe she knows who is."

"Well, our profile was _way_ off," Blake quipped.

"That's the most off we've ever been," Reid agreed.

Turns out the unsub, was _not_ a grieving wife and mother, but rather a psychopathic old lady moonlighting as a daycare worker. Betty McDonald confessed to the three child abductions and ten more in the area. She used her position to take vulernable young children and keep them. Some were found alive, others weren't.

"Looks like you owe somebody an apology," Rossi smirked.

Hotch sighed. Things were going to get interesting.

"Did you find them?" Chloe whispered.

"Yes. We found them alive."

Chloe breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Hoth sighed. Apologizing wasn't easy for him.

"On behalf of my team and myself, I want to apologize. Our profile was way off course, and unfortunatley, it lead us to you. It would be a shame if you went to prison for these crimes. So, we're gonna let you go. I am so sorry for this ordeal...and for losing control."

Now was her chance.

"What if I don't wanna be let go?" she asked.

 _A ha! So that was it!_ Hotch thought _Two can play at that game!_

"So you like being cooped up in a police interrogation room?" Hotch asked.

"Well..uh...when I'm with a tall, dark handsome FBI agent...yeah," Chloe stammered.

Hotch blushed. She couldn't be talking about _him?_ Could she? He had her blushing at stammering. Score one for Hotchner.

"Oh, so you like it when I do this?" He tousled her hair and she giggled.

"Or this?" He grabbed her arms again.

"Oh, Agent Hotchner," Chloe swooned, "did anyone ever tell you you're sexy when you're angry?"

"That's why you didn't flinch." Hotch smirked. He circled around her and glared at her. He hissed in her ear.

"I figured you out after I questioned you," he growled, "you couldn't breathe or speak. Just like you are right now."

"Agent Hotchner!" Chloe exclaimed. He put a finger to her lips.

" It's Aaron," Hotch corrected, "and we better get out of here before the rest of the team finds us," Hotch said.

"Lead the way Agent HOTchner," Chloe flirted back.

He spun around.

"What did you call me?" he whispered.

"You heard me, Aaron HOTchner," she smiled.

Hotch smiled and shook his head and the unusual pair quickly scurried off.

"They're booking Betty right now," Blake said, "she'll never see the light of day again. Hey, where's Hotch?"

"Last I saw him he was going to exonerate Chloe," Rossi said.

"Well, where's Chloe?" JJ asked.

"I saw her walk out with Hotch..." Reid trailed off.

It didn't take a profiler to figure out what happened.


End file.
